Flexible blade construction for a roller-cleaning device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a printing device having a rollercleaning apparatus which includes a flexible blade which is maintained in line contact with a roller with substantially uniform pressure to remove caked-in dirt from the roller. The flexible blade is supported by a plurality of adjustable engaging means which can transversely bow the blade in any desired amount, depending on the size of the press involved, to insure that uniform pressure will be maintained between the roller and the blade throughout the entire line of contact.

United States Patent Inventors Harold W. Gegenheimer Darien; KarlheinzArnolds, Stamford, both 01, Conn.

Appl. N 0. 838,559

Filed July 2, 1969 Patented Aug. 24, 1971 Assignee Baldwin-GegenheimerCorporation Stamford, Conn.

FLEXIBLE BLADE CONSTRUCTION FOR A ROLLER-CLEANING DEVICE 2 Claims, 3Drawing Figs.

U.S. C1 101/425, 101/ 169 Int. Cl B411 35/04 FieldoiSearch 101/365,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,798,042 3/1931 Smith101/365 2,042,943 6/1936 Hoyle 101/365 2,082,819 6/1937 Beccard15/256.5l 2,088,512 7/1937 Gegenheimer 101/425 2,477,339 7/1949Ljungquist 15/256.51 2,970,541 2/1961 Gegenheimer 101/425 3,521,5617/1970 Pallet al 101/169 Primary Examiner-J. Reed FisherAttorney-Morgan, Finnegan, Durham & Pine ABSTRACT: The invention relatesto a printing device having a roller-cleaning apparatus which includes aflexible blade which is maintained in line contact with a roller withsubstantially uniform pressure to remove caked-in dirt from the roller.The flexible blade is supported by a plurality of adjustable engagingmeans which can transversely bow the blade in any desired amount,depending on the size of the press involved, to insure that uniformpressure will be maintained between the roller and the blade throughoutthe entire line of contact.

Patented Aug. 24, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS IMROLD MGEGENHE/MER/gARLHEl/VZ ARNOLDS Patented Aug. 24, 1971 3,601,051

2 Sheets-Sheet FIGI INVENTORS HAROLD M GEGENHEIMER fimfiLHflNz ARNOL D5FLEXIBLE BLADE CONSTRUCTION FOR A ROLLER- CLEANING DEVICE BACKGROUND OFINVENTION This invention is an improvement over the invention describedand claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,541 granted Feb. 7, 1961.

As described in that patent numerous problems arise in connection withthe washing and cleaning of ink rollers such as used in printer-slottersand other similar equipment.

It is essential in such equipment that proper cleaning and care of inkrollers be maintained in order to achieve efficient and dependableresults. It is therefore vitally important that the ink rollers beperiodically cleaned not only for color changes but also to remove driedor caked ink from the ink roller and that this be done quickly andefficiently with substantial savings in both time and cost.

The specification of U. S. Pat. No. 2,970,541 describes a proposal whichhas in actual practice been successful with certain size presses. Inaccordance with the teaching of that patent a roller-cleaning apparatusis provided which includes a flexible cleaning blade which extendsparallel to and can be maintained in contact with the vibrating inkroller. That patent, moreover, describes a flexible blade which has beentransversely prebowed along the line of contact so that the center ofthe flexible blade is closer to the vibrating roller than the endsthereof. As described in that patent the prebending of the blade insuresthat the center portion of the blade engages the roller before the endsof the blade so that when the ink roller is rotating and vibratingsubstantially uniform pressure will be obtained between the roller andthe blade throughout the entire length of contact.

However, despite the advantages of the invention in U.S. Pat. No.2,970,541, years of experience with such devices have shown that it hascertain shortcomings.

Thus, it has been found that the use of the prebowed flexible blade inpresses of 60 inches or longer is not as effective as in cases where thepresses are smaller in size. It has been found that with the largerpress size and hence longer flexible blades, the blades do not maintaintheir uniform prebowed condition when in use and therefore do notmaintain substantially uniform pressure when in contact with thevibrating ink roller. When this occurs the advantages of the bowed bladeare lost.

Furthermore, it has been found that the necessary amount of bowing inthe blade varies from press to press and differs substantially dependingon the size of the press. Thus with the prebowed blade there is nostandard bow which is usable with all different size presses.

With the foregoing in mind it is an object of this invention to providea new and improved ink roller-cleaning apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedroller-cleaning apparatus having a flexible bowed blade constructionwherein the degree of bowing in the blade can be adjusted as desired.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a new andimproved roller-cleaning apparatus having a flexible blade supported ina plurality of positions along its length byan adjustable mechanismwhich controls the degree of bow in the blade.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a new andimproved ink roller-cleaning apparatus with a support means for anelongated flexible blade which is adapted to bow the blade transverselyin the desired amount to maintain substantially uniform pressure betweenthe blade and the vibrating ink roller.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows and in part will be obvious from thedescription, the objects and advantages being realized and obtained bymeans of the instrumen'talities,

particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Briefly described, the invention comprises the combination ofroller-cleaning mechanism for cleaning ink rollers with a flexiblecleaning blade adapted for line contact with an ink roller. The flexibleblade extends along the length of the ink roller and is supported alongits length at a plurality of locations. The support means areconstructed so that variable pressure can be applied to the flexibleblade in order that the blade will be transversely bowed or bent in theamount necessary for the particular press mechanism with which it isused.

The invention consists of the novel parts, steps, constructions andimprovements shown and described.

The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification illustrate an embodiment of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention. Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partially broken end elevation view of the apparatusembodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

blade supports for bowing the flexible blade.

For purposes of illustration the invention has been shown as applied toa printing press having a plurality of rollers for feeding ink. Thecleaning apparatus of the present invention is arranged to cooperatewith one roller generally termed the upper vibrator roller, but it willbe understood that with this apparatus the entire series of rollers canbe quickly and easily cleaned.

For purposes of convenience identical reference numerals have been usedfor the same elements in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown therein in schematic form aplurality of rollers 2, 4, 6 and 8 adapted for transferring ink from anink fountain, not shown, to a printing roller. As noted previously,these ink rollers must be maintained in a clean condition and caked anddried ink must be removed from such rollers from time to time.

For purposes of convenience the present invention will be described inreference toroller 2 which is referred to as a vibratory ink roller.

As shown best in FIGS. 1 and 2 there is, in accordance with thisinvention, a flexible blade 10 which extends the longitudinal length ofthe roller 2 and is adapted to be placed in line contact with thesurface of the roller 2.

The flexible blade in accordance with this invention may be made of anysuitable material having sufficient strength and flexibility. Preferablythe blade 10 is made of nylon or some other suitable nonmetallicmaterial. The blade when in contact with the roller is preferablypositioned as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,541 so that the plane ofthe blade is substantially tangential to the cylindric plane describedabout the axis of the roller at a radius approximately half the radiusof the roller.

The blade 10 is mounted on a blade-supporting structure which isconnected between two stationary frame portions 12 only one of which isshown in FIG. 1.

The blade-supporting structure 16 is movable so that the blade 10 can bepositioned in and out of contact with the roller 2 as desired. For thispurpose the handle 14 is provided. Since the means by which the blade ismoved into and out of contact with the roller is not essential to thepresent invention, it will not be described further. Reference is made,however, to U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,541 for a specific structure foraccomplishing this result.

In accordance with this invention means are provided for supporting theflexible blade so that it will be bowed in any desired amount along itslongitudinal length so that substantially uniform pressure will beobtained between the blade and the roller throughout the entire line ofcontact while the roller is rotating in the usual manner.

As embodied, the support means 16 includes a tubular stiffening member18 which extends substantially the longitudinal length of the roller.

Auxiliary frame 20, FIG. 2, is in any convenient manner connected-to thetubular stiffening member 18.

Connected to the tubular stiffening member 18 (FIG. 3) is a lower bladesupport 34 to which is assembled an upper blade support 22. The bladestwo supports 22 and 34 extends the length of the roller. As will be seenthe upper blade support 22 serves, in effect, as a backing support forblade against support 34.

The stiffening tube 18 as best seen in FIG. 3 is substantiallyrectangular in form. Spaced along the longitudinal length of thestiffening tube are a plurality of internally threaded tubes 24 (seeFIGS. 1 and 3). Any suitable number of such threaded tubes can beprovided and where the press is relatively large in size a greaternumber of such threaded tubes will be provided than where the press issmaller.

As shown in FIG. 3, the threaded tubes 24 are adapted to cooperate withan externally threaded tube 26 which is externally threaded. Positionedin telescopic relation with each externally threaded tube 26 is a shaft28 which is connected at one end 30 to a blade support angle 34. Theshaft 28 can be connected to blade support angle by threaded means or bywelding or any other convenient means. The other end of each shaft isthreaded for engagement with a locknut 27.

The flexible blade 10 as best seen in FIG. 2 is sandwiched between theupper blade support 22 and the blade support angle 34. The flexiblecleaning blade 10 can be bowed by the difference in pressure applied toblade by the support 34.

Thus by turning the nut 27 the blade support will move toward thestiffening tube. By applying more pressure to the blade at the centerthan at the end the center of the blade will be positioned higher thanthe ends thereof and vice versa.

It will be understood that the stiffening tube 18 is relatively rigidand the blade support 34 relatively flexible.

The amount the blade is bowed is determined by turning the nut 27. Theamount of bowing in the blade can be changed simply and expeditiouslyeven while the blade is in use, It is not necessary as is the case withblades such as exemplified in US. Pat. No. 2,970,541 that the blade beprebowed before assembly into the roller-cleaning apparatus. Moreover,if during use of the roller-cleaning apparatus the amount of the bow inthe blade are changed it can be easily corrected with a device inaccordance with the present invention.

In the study and practice of the invention, variations and modificationswill undoubtedly occur, and it is understood that any changes in thedetails, combinations and arrangements of elements which have hereinbeen described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of theinvention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe principles and scope of the invention as expressed in the appendedclaims and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What is claimed is:

1. In a printing apparatus, a roller-cleaning device including a frame,a stationary roller-cleaning blade support mounted on said frame, anelongated stiffening tube mounted on said frame and extending along thelength of the roller, a plurality of internally threaded tubes spacedalong the length of said elongated tube, an externally threaded tubemounted within each of said internally threaded tubes, a shaft mountedwithin each of said externally threaded tubes, a movable blade supportattached to one end of said shaft and means for moving said shaftstowards and away from said stationary blade support.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said shafts isthreaded at the end opposite from said movable blade support and has anut in threaded engagement therewith, each of said nuts being adapted toengage the adjacent end of its associated externally threaded tube.

1. In a printing apparatus, a roller-cleaning device including a frame, a stationary roller-cleaning blade support mounted on said frame, an elongated stiffening tube mounted on said frame and extending along the length of the roller, a plurality of internally threaded tubes spaced along the length of said elongated tube, an externally threaded tube mounted within each of said internally threaded tubes, a shaft mounted within each of said externally threaded tubes, a movable blade support attached to one end of said shaft and means for moving said shafts towards and away from said stationary blade support.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said shafts is threaded at the end opposite from said movable blade support and has a nut in threaded engagement therewith, each of said nuts being adapted to engage the adjacent end of its associated externally threaded tube. 